AMA federal president Dr Steve Hambleton said Australia needed leadership from the federal government and support from the states.

According to the AMA, at 2am in an emergency department, about 20 per cent of people are there because of alcohol-related trauma.

Perth intensive care specialist Professor Geoffrey Dobb said sometimes he went to work in the morning and half of the people in intensive care were there due to alcohol.

"An action that lasts for just a second can impact on people for the rest of their lives," he said.

The effect of alcohol misuse also extends to children, with tens of thousands of cases each year of alcohol-related child mistreatment, the AMA says.

Prof Dobb said there needed to be a change in the drinking culture in Australia.

While the group is looking to the commonwealth for help, Acting Prime Minister Warren Truss told reporters on Wednesday people should not rely on the government to stop alcohol fuelled-violence.

He said governments could make it easier for people to be jailed, but they could not solve the problem.

"People have got to take responsibility for their own lives, recognise the impact on people that they may hurt as the result of some silly drunken violence but also on their own lives."

The AMA's call comes just days after the NSW government announced a suite of reforms to target drunk and drug-fuelled violence.

The proposed laws include the creation of a fatal one-punch offence that would carry a minimum eight-year jail sentence if committed under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

They also include 1.30am lock-outs and 3am last drinks at bars and clubs across an expanded Sydney CBD entertainment precinct.

Other proposed reforms are mandatory minimum and longer maximum sentences for serious alcohol-fuelled assaults, 10pm closing times for bottle shops and new powers allowing police to administer drug and alcohol testing to suspected offenders.